In August President Eisenhower, who had long been ambivalent about Nixon, held a televised press conference in which a reporter mentioned Nixon's claims that he had been a valuable administration insider and advisor. The reporter asked Eisenhower if he could think of any Nixon advice or suggestions that he had heeded. Eisenhower responded with the flip comment that "if you give me a week I might think of one." Although both Eisenhower and Nixon later claimed that Ike was merely joking with the reporter, the remark hurt Nixon, as it undercut his claims of having greater decision-making experience than Kennedy. The remark proved so damaging to Nixon that the Democrats turned Eisenhower's statement into a television commercial criticizing Nixon.
I guess what we're experiencing with the Internet (ie. Youtube) these days is something that's been going on and has been kind of a big deal for far longer than I thought. I'm taking a class at school entitled Blogs, Politics and the Media, and the other day we were talking about how it's crucial that people are careful of what they say, because it can be recorded, posted on the Net, and repeated everywhere long after the act. On top of that, it can incite people who care enough to dig up things of the past, things you thought were long forgotten. I guess it was the same way with Nixon. That sucks...
That, my friends, is what you call a joke gone bad. Really bad.
1 comment:
It is truly amazing how a simple sentence recorded can be taken out of context in any situation and the meaning of it can be entirely twisted. Importance of watching our words cannot be stressed enough.
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